Description:

Dr. Michael (Mike) Armbruster has been with Orange County Public Schools for 29 years serving as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal and currently the Senior Executive Director of Career and Technical Education. As Senior Executive Director of CTE, Mike oversees Orange Technical College (OTC), comprised of five campuses throughout Central Florida, as well as over 30,000 students taking part in career and technical education classes throughout the district’s secondary schools. He has been married to his wife Sandi for 32 years and is the proud father of Jennifer, who recently graduated from Georgia Tech and is an engineer with Motorola in Chicago.

Today’s workforce needs are changing and the demand for skilled workers is evident in every aspect of the Central Florida economy. OTC is the post-secondary arm of Orange County Public Schools, the tenth largest school district in the nation, and provides training in more than 60 high skill wage programs. The college also provides GED programing for those seeking a high school diploma and English for Speakers of Other Languages training for those whose native language is not English. Students enrolled in technical programs have the opportunity to learn a variety of skills from gaming and simulation to truck driving, diesel mechanics to licensed practical nursing, digital video production to electrical wiring, and everything in between.

Dr. Armbruster states, “In the past, universities were seen as steak, and career and technical education programming was seen as hamburger. Today universities are still steak, but with the increased need for high skill training, CTE is now lobster. In combination with the wonderful articulation agreements we have with our local state college, Valencia, students can now have ‘surf and turf’ and make the best of both worlds as they build their career and positively impact our community.”